Discourses>Discovering>Colonizing>Developing
There’s the discourse of discovering SL: buying, owning and settling; the discourse of colonizing SL: settling, owning and controlling; and the discourse of developing SL: buying, owning, selling, and controlling.
I drive north weekly on Interstate 15 to Claremont, California. 15 cuts through the Inland Empire, vast rolling hills of brown, low desert landscape. It’s not dotted with suburban development, development is spray-painted on. It’s not sprawl; it’s organized and systematized. Developers build housing developments adjacent to the malls they build. The region is colonized by industrialized goods, services and food, and it’s been cyclically colonized for over 250 years.
Is the Inland Empire a geographic facsimile of SL? Is SL a cultural facsimile of the IE? And who named it an Empire, anyway? I like renting my plot of land in dingy old Hillcrest, with it’s bustling nightlife, stained sidewalks and owner-occupied store fronts. Driving through the Empire reminds me of how good I’ve got it. In the Empire, Starbucks is the only friend I have.
Free Plots available on the Farm!
Thinking about Second Life but don’t know where to begin? STAKE YOUR CLAIM on a plot of land at the pICTSL Farm.
You can build, create, invent and simply get a sense of what it means to have a space in Second Life.
To claim a plot, contact Suzanne at pict at rohan dot sdsu dot edu or stop by the Farm, in Second Life and contact Mari Asturius.
Rumors Abound… Google is developing at virtual world.
“Discussion on several blogs and Web sites centers on the Internet-search giant’s intent to develop a ‘virtual world’ similar to the Second Life site developed by Linden Lab.
While Google isn’t mentioned by name by ASU, its ties with Google suggest a possible connection.”
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